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machismo

UK/mæˈt͡ʃɪz.məʊ/US/mɑːˈt͡ʃiz.moʊ/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,717 of 15,258neutral

Machismo is an exaggerated show of manly toughness. A culture of machismo, sheer machismo, machismo and bravado.

It is always a criticism in English, and the display is the point, since machismo is about being seen to be tough rather than being so. The word came from Spanish in the 1940s.

Definitions of machismo

  1. 1nounmachismoAn exaggerated show of manly toughness.C1

    “His machismo made him refuse to wear a helmet, even on dangerous roads.”

machismo is a display.

Where it comes from

American Spanish machismo comes from macho, male.

  1. Spanish

    machismo

  2. English, today

    machismo

Built from

  • -ismo · Spanish — -ism

First attested 1940, from American Spanish machismo, from Spanish macho (“male”), + suffix -ismo (“-ism”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

machismo in the wild

  • Most song lyrics are about machismo, love, betrayal, death, politics, revolutionary heroes, and country life.

    Mariachi

  • The novel's themes include the nature of power and corruption, and their relationship to machismo or sexual perversion in a rigidly hierarchical society with strongly gendered roles.

    The Feast of the Goat

  • The drunken clientele then demonstrated its machismo by ordering a specially hot curry.

    Vindaloo

  • The movie is a general look at gender roles in Cuba as well as the conflict between machismo and the idealized image of liberated women under communism.

    Up to a Certain Point

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.